Nobody seems to agree on how to manage the pain of emails. Some say 'make folders and rules', others say 'check them a few times a day'. I say, start with figuring out your options. Because you can't 'copy and paste' what everyone says to your life. 

This article is for you;

-if you value your time more than most people. 

-if you try a few pairs of jeans before buying one that looks perfect.

-if you're the guy / girl who pays for Spotify so you don't have to hear ads.

Things that make life easier have a cost. Because your time is valuable. So anything that saves you time is valuable. 

With email, everyone seems to go with the free accounts. Gmail dominates. About 80% of the people reading this are getting this email in their Gmail account. Why? Because it’s pretty good. 

It does the basic things, it looks nice. It’s google and we all like google. 

But like the examples I gave you earlier - when you want to take this to the next level and optimise for your time, there are three PAID email services you should consider. And I’m not talking about Outlook. 

Option 1 - Fastmail

If you want to spend less time on emails and you care about functionality over looks - use this. It’s not pretty, but it’s great. It’s so easy to manage everything. The keyboard shortcuts are easy. The Mobile app is perfect for email.

But the best thing? It’s not as pretty as Gmail or any of the others I’m going to mention. 

Because you don’t want to spend time on emails. You don’t want to be enticed by the nice looking fonts and colours. It’s about getting your ADMIN shit done. 

This is the one I’ve been using now for a year. I have 6 emails pointed to one inbox (and it’s very easy to set up). 

This is also the cheapest of the bunch that I’ll talk about.

Option 2 - Superhuman

Now, this one is a little more ‘premium’. It’s for you if you prefer to pay for a Mercedes and get all the options. 

It has a lot of hype on the internet and I know a few people who’ve used it. I’ve tried it. 

It works, but it’s not for me because it looks too nice. And Fastmail does everything for me that I need. 

I reminded myself - it’s about clearing emails. Aesthetics don’t matter. 

You can try it if you like - it’s definitely better than any free platform you’re using right now. 

Option 3 - Hey

I actually love this company. 

I set up an account and tried it out. It’s a little more costly than fast mail, but it’s actually good. 

They’ve really thought about how it all works. 

If you get an email from a first time sender, it goes into a filter instead of coming to your inbox. If you’ve subscribed to loads of things for example - in the filter you can select the ‘thumbs down’ button and you’ll never hear from them again. 

They call the Inbox, the ‘Imbox’ - because only important things go in there. I like that.

These guys have done the thinking for you already. You don’t need to read articles or do courses. You can just adopt how it works out of the box and you’ll save so much time. The mobile app is great too.

So why don’t I use them? Simply because it’ll take me a bit of time to migrate over and I’ve paid for Fastmail for the full year. But I’ll definitely be making the switch. 

If you’re still thinking “I have a free alternative, so why should I pay for email?” I have one question for you: how much do you value an hour of your time? 

I CHARGE for my time at $500 per hour. That’s what I believe I’m worth. And I have a few hours per month because of this.A small cost per month is well worth it. I’m making money by having my time back.

What would you charge for an hour of your time?

One last thing. You would have noticed I didn’t put the cost of the options in this article. It’s because I want you to check them out for the value they deliver, and not go for the cheapest option. Choose one that fits your life. You can try Fastmail and Hey.com for free to see if you like it. Superhuman doesn’t have a free trial option.

That’s it! 

You did it. You’re one step closer to taking control back over your emails. I’m so proud of you.

Go forth and have a great day.

Harry

P.S. If you liked this, share it with a friend. If you hated it, share it with an enemy.